Castle Schönbühel

The monastery is picturesquely situated at the entrance to the Wachau high above the Danube.

The former Servite monastery Schönbühel was founded in the 17th century by a pious aristocratic family who had converted to Catholicism. The idea was to recreate the events of salvation in Israel here, with Golgotha, the burial place of Christ and the birthplace of Jesus in the "underground Bethlehem".

However, the monastery church became large and famous as a place of pilgrimage, to which the faithful made pilgrimages as seekers of help or supplicants to St. Rosalia, the protector from the plague. After the Josephinian church reforms, the number of petitions and pilgrimages fell sharply and the monastery was finally closed in 1980 due to a lack of new members.

Particularly noteworthy are the original depiction of the Flight into Egypt and, above all, the Peregrine Chapel with its frescoes by the famous Baroque painter Johann Bergl. A staircase carved into the mountain leads down to the Grotto of the Nativity with its depiction of the birth of Christ, which is modeled on the one in Bethlehem.

A flight of steps leads to the river, over which the sailors used to climb to worship in the church.